


The Show Must Go On

by Aria_Lerendeair



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Badass Naomi, Evil Crowley, Frottage, Hand Jobs, M/M, Pining, Smut, Stalking, Theater!AU, badass sam, human!AU, non-graphic injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:39:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Lerendeair/pseuds/Aria_Lerendeair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam runs tech for one of the biggest shows in Las Vegas.  However, when things start to go wrong for two of their headliners, Gabriel and Castiel Novak, Sam gets caught up in helping the two of them, and his feelings to boot.  Can he figure out who is after them before someone ends up hurt?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Show Must Go On [Art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5871667) by [Aria_Lerendeair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Lerendeair/pseuds/Aria_Lerendeair), [litra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra). 



> The art (please check out the related links) is by the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING LITRA, and holy shit it is mind-blowingly amazing, so make sure you all check it out!!

 

"Sam!" Naomi snapped. "Pay attention, Gabriel's routine is next and after the issues we had last night-"

 

"Don't worry," Sam said, turning to look at her. "I've double and triple checked the lighting prompts and timing. All harnesses are in place, as are the props for him on stage. He's ready, I've checked in with him twice."

 

Naomi frowned, but nodded and turned to walk down the stairs, yelling into her headset for Inias. Sam winced and turned back to the monitors in front of him, waiting for Gabriel to step out onto the stage and hit his mark before he hit the lights.

 

Gabriel Novak, one of their headlining routines, was absolutely _beautiful_. He was power and lithe grace all at once, and you never would have thought it meeting him on the street. Sam hadn't believed it either, until he had seen Gabriel combine dance and acrobatics so flawlessly it had left him awed. 

 

He'd known, right then and there, he'd wanted to run tech for Gabriel's routine, because it was complicated and demanded minute cues from Gabriel himself. If he didn't pay enough attention, he would miss something. And that couldn't happen like it had last night.

 

He focused and threw up the mainstage lights, dropping them low, highlighting Gabriel exactly as he wanted to be. There was another assistant, down there, waiting in the wings, if Gabriel had any feedback that needed to be passed directly to him.

 

Sam turned another dial, changing the tone of the lights, and started the music, breathing out slowly with it as Gabriel started to move. He couldn't get distracted watching Gabriel, he had a job to do and he needed to make sure that it happened.

 

Nevermind that he could watch Gabriel for hours. But he would take this, because this would be the closest he would ever get to the amazing dancer.

 

The rest of the practice routine went without an issue and Sam slumped against the board for a moment when it was finished, a few of the assistants bursting into applause when Gabriel finally froze at the end of the routine. It was _perfect_.

 

It needed to be perfect for Gabriel. He would never let it be anything else. That was what Gabriel deserved.

 

"Sam," the headset crackled.

 

Sam sat up immediately and grabbed it, yanking it back onto his head. "Yeah, what's up, this is Sam."

 

"Gabriel needs you down here. Says that he needs to discuss the routine," Jess said. "So get the hell down here, quick. Kevin can cover you while we go through Cas' routine."

 

Sam scrambled out of the booth, his mind racing, wondering what the hell he could have done or missed that would have pissed off Gabriel. Normally the dancer was pretty easy going and able to go with the flow if there was something that had been missed for wrong.

 

Last night had been an exception, and it had only been the quick thinking of the crew and Gabriel that had kept him from being seriously injured. Sam blew out a hard breath and tried not to think about the sound of the trapeze wire snapping and Gabriel hanging onto the bar for dear life.

 

He shook his head and headed down to the stage and into the wings, looking around for Gabriel. He found him, reclining in a chair, watching as his brother went up and into the silk scarves. Sam approached slowly, hoping that Gabriel wasn't too angry with him for whatever he had done wrong. Sam went through the routine again, but he was pretty positive that nothing had happened.

 

"Gabriel?" he called, clearing his throat and stepping up a little closer. "Everything all right?"

 

Gabriel turned his attention to Sam Winchester and gave himself a moment to appreciate that the tech was wearing nothing more than a tight t-shirt and jeans. Standard wear for their practices. Later that night he'd be in nothing but all black to blend in as much as possible. "Yeah, come on, I want to discuss my routine."

 

"Did something go wrong?" Sam asked, looking around as Gabriel stood and started to lead him back to the dressing room he shared with his brother.

 

Gabriel waved Sam into the room and shut the door behind him. "I'll be honest with you kid, because you need to know the shit that's going on with Cas and I, because if something like last night happens again, I might not be so lucky," Gabriel said.

 

"I won't let it," Sam blurted, staring at Gabriel. "I triple checked all of your equipment before you even hit the stage today, made sure no one but myself and Jess touched it before you got out there and made sure that I was running your entire show from the booth."

 

Gabriel blinked in surprise and chuckled, shaking his head. "No wonder you actually caught all of my cues."

 

"What?" Sam asked, blinking again.

 

"You caught all of my cues. Normally whoever does the tech for my routines misses one or two of them. That's why I never have consistent routines. The fans love it, because they feel like they get something different, but that makes it a little harder for me," Gabriel said with a shrug, walking over to the table where he kept his stuff, rifling through a duffel bag.

 

Sam was horrified and had to figure out how to respond, because that should never happen. Missed cues did happen from time to time, and they all knew how to handle them when they did, but a regular thing for Gabriel? "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, stepping closer to the dancer.

 

Gabriel laughed and shrugged, looking over his shoulder at Sam. "Number one, because it really doesn't make any difference to me. I can deal with it. Number two, because, two weeks ago before your position change, you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it _anyways_."

 

Sam had to allow that, at the very least, because it was accurate. Before he'd become one of the head technicians for booth operations, there would have been very little he could do, other than try to get to Naomi and let her know. And even then, there was no guarantee she would believe him without Gabriel telling her.

 

"Right," Sam agreed, pushing his fingers through his hair, rolling the hair tie down his wrist a moment later before tying his hair up and into a sloppy ponytail. "We'll figure that out, because you shouldn't have to deal with that. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I don't care if that means I take over your routines for the time being-"

 

"You don't have time for that," Gabriel snapped, crossing his arms over his chest, turning to glare at Sam. "You need to figure out a way to make sure Kevin and Charlie know all of my cues-"

 

"They do," Sam interrupted, glaring right back at Gabriel. "I've quizzed them on them, they know them."

 

"Then get me someone who is actually going to catch them in the damn routine!" Gabriel growled, spinning away angrily.

 

Sam took a deep breath and ratcheted his anger back several levels. He needed to focus on something else. Gabriel had almost died last night, so of course he was tense about everything that was going on. He exhaled again. _Right_. Something was going on.

 

"I'm sorry. You're right. I'll go over it with them again to make sure they're clear and walk them through the routine. I'll supervise both of them," Sam said, his voice subdued as he watched Gabriel.

 

"I, fuck, no, I didn't mean," Gabriel said and groaned, sinking into a chair. He glared at the mirror in front of him. "Cas and I both got death threats. We think it's from an old stalker of Cas', but we aren't entirely sure. We also think that might be what happened last night."

 

Dread settled into Sam's stomach and he sank into the chair next to Gabriel. " _Jesus_. Have you alerted the police?"

 

Gabriel nodded and stared at Sam. "Of course we have. But neither of us are going to stop performing, just because we are dealing with this bastard. But after last night..." he swallowed. "We're worried."

 

Sam exhaled hard and looked at the door that Gabriel had locked and closed the door behind him. "You think that someone here-"

 

"I think that Crowley has a lot of influence and a lot of ways to make people do what he wants. It would have been easy to position what they did last night as a way to scare me, not kill me-"

 

"The wire snapped in mid air!" Sam protested, then flinched, because Gabriel didn't need to be reminded about what happened last night. "I'm sorry. You scared all of us last night."

 

"I was scared too," Gabriel said, clenching his hands into the towel in front of him. "I was really, _really_ scared Sam. I thought the other wire was going to snap and I was going to fall-"

 

"Okay," Sam said, turning to face Gabriel properly. "Then we remove the acrobatics from your routine."

 

"No!" Gabriel protested, immediately jumping up from the chair. "People have paid an incredible amount of money to see this show, I'm not going to let them get anything less than they paid for!"

 

Sam took a deep breath and couldn't help but admire the passion in Gabriel's eyes. He meant that with every single fiber of his being and Sam had to admire him, even if he was being a little bit stupid about this. "Gabriel, we have to keep you safe, that is our number one concern. Yes, we want to make sure that everyone gets what they paid for, but your safety is more important."

 

Gabriel sighed and slumped into the chair. "I know. I'm afraid that they're going to come after Cas, since their attempt at coming after me didn't work either."

 

Sam nodded. It was a very real concern and Gabriel was right to be worried, but he didn't need to be told that right now. He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "I'll make sure I check all of Cas' equipment too. We'll limit the number of people that have access to the scarves and triple check everything before he goes on tonight, just like for you."

 

Gabriel nodded and rubbed his hands over his face. "You going to run tech for my brother too?"

 

Sam chuckled and grinned at Gabriel. "You read my mind. I am planning on doing exactly that. I'll make sure both of you get through your routines safe and sound, I promise."

 

Gabriel smiled up at Sam and he knew without a doubt Sam would make that happen. "Thanks, Sam."

 

Sam had heard more than one person comment on the fact that Gabriel looked more tired than usual, and now that he was sitting there, he could see that as well. It was obvious. Everything about it was obvious. He took a deep breath.

 

"Gabriel?" he asked. "The cops probably don't have you staying at home, do they?"

 

Gabriel shook his head. "The hotel has been kind enough to offer a suite for us to stay in until we have things sorted out, but I don't feel any safer staying there." he shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

 

Sam blew out a breath and considered the offer for only half a second before it was leaving his mouth. "Come and stay with us."

 

"What?" Gabriel asked, his head snapping up to stare at Sam.

 

"My brother, you've met Dean, right? Pretty sure he and Cas have a thing of sorts going on?" Sam asked, smiling a little.

 

Gabriel snorted. "Yeah, they have a thing if either of them have managed to get past the staring phase. Hasn't happened as far as I know," he added, looking at Sam. "But we can't impose on you like that."

 

"Look," Sam said with a shrug. "I can't promise it'll be comfier than the hotel. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee you that it won't. However, it'll be a house, you'll have food that you can make when you want, you and Cas can take each of our spare bedrooms."

 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Two spare bedrooms?"

 

Sam snickered and raised an eyebrow right back at Gabriel. "Have you seen the real estate prices in Vegas?"

 

Gabriel snorted and nodded. "Fair enough point. So what, you have a four bedroom?"

 

"Well, it's three bedrooms and an office that we turned into another spare bedroom/workout room for the both of us," Sam said with a shrug. "It'll work. Also, Dean and I have conceal and carry permits, so if anyone comes near either of you, we'll shoot first and ask questions later."

 

Gabriel laughed again and stared up at Sam. "You make a rather good knight in shining armor, know that Sam?"

 

Sam shrugged and smiled. "I suppose so, but it's the right thing to do, and I want to make sure you don't get hurt."

 

"So what you're saying is that you just want a chance to seduce me in private?" Gabriel teased, raising both of his eyebrows.

 

"Definitely," Sam said, winking at Gabriel. "Seduce and drag you into my bedroom. It'll be much easier, it's only across the hall."

 

Gabriel grinned, some of the tension bleeding out of him. "You sure that your brother won't mind?"

 

"If you extend the offer to Cas? Yeah, I'm sure he won't mind, hell, he might even thank me, considering," Sam said, tapping his chin as he thought about it. Dean would probably be pissed at him to start with, but it would eventually be thanking him.

 

"Okay," Gabriel said, nodding a little bit more. "I'll need to let the police know and they might need to come visit us if we get anymore threats."

 

Sam nodded and smiled. "Yeah, should be fine. Just make sure to let them know about our gun permits and that all of our weapons are registered."

 

Gabriel raised another eyebrow at him and Sam grinned, chuckling. "Trust me, Dean and I have a hell of a lot more than just a few handguns between us, so if we get searched by cops, I'd like them to know what they're walking into ahead of time."

 

"What are you two, hunters in your spare time?"

 

Sam laughed. "Dean is. I'm not the biggest fan. Our Dad was hugely into it, and guns, and left us this massive collection. We don't use it often, but we keep it up, mostly in his memory and go out and shoot some of his older guns once in awhile."

 

Gabriel nodded and smiled. "You're a good man, Sam Winchester."

 

"I'd like to think so," Sam agreed, winking at Gabriel. "Now, finish your cool down, shower and all of that. I've got to make sure there's no issues with Cas' equipment and make sure Kevin ran the routine the way he needed to. You go pack up your stuff. I'll take you home after tonight. Sound good?"

 

Gabriel nodded again. "Yeah, that definitely sounds good."

 

Sam waved to Gabriel and let himself out of the dressing room a moment later. He exhaled hard and stared at the ceiling in the theater. Jesus christ, this was a fucking mess. But at least he knew about it now, so he could do everything he needed to so he could take care of things.

 

He wondered if Naomi knew. She had to, especially after yesterday. There was no way Gabriel would continue to keep it from her. No reason to do so either. It would only make more of a mess for Gabriel in the long run if he did keep it from her.

 

Sam headed straight for her office. They had a specific reason to check all of Gabriel's items three times over, and now he was going to need to demand the same for what was going on with Cas. He blew out a breath and wondered what kind of a man this stalker of theirs was that he was coming after them.

 

He knocked and waited for Naomi to call him in. He straightened his back and froze when he realized there was someone else in the room as well. _Lucifer_. One of the other dancers they had. He had a breath-taking routine designed with his brother, Michael.

 

Sam had never run tech for either of them, but Lucifer had hit on him a dozen or so times, and he could not have been less interested. Or more firm in his no. Which was a word that Lucifer definitely didn't like hearing. Sam gave him a nod as Lucifer left the room and turned to Naomi.

 

"Why are you here in my office and not overseeing Kevin?" Naomi asked, staring at her computer.

 

Sam smiled a little at her. "We need to run the same checks on Castiel's equipment that we are on Gabriel's. I'm going to run the booth for both of their routines tonight. Probably for the rest of the week, and longer if need be."

 

Naomi turned her attention to Sam and raised both of her eyebrows. "Are you now? And what necessitates this....personal touch?"

 

Sam raised an eyebrow back at her. "I would like to think Gabriel and Castiel have appraised you of certain events. Gabriel has told me as well. I want to keep both of them safe."

 

 

"I trust my staff, Sam," Naomi said, staring at him hard. "I do not like what you are insinuating."

 

Sam shook his head. "I'm not insinuating anything. I want to make sure they are both safe. There is someone who is trying to hurt them and I would not be doing my job if I didn't order additional checks on both of them, not just on Gabriel."

 

Naomi stared at him hard enough and long enough that Sam had to fight the urge to squirm. Damn her and wanting to make him uncomfortable over this shit. He was right, and he was doing what needed to be done to protect both Gabriel and Castiel.

 

"Very well. But you take responsibility for this decision if anything happens to both of them," Naomi said, pointing her finger at Sam.

 

Sam swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, of course."

 

"Good. Now get out of my office."

 

Sam didn't need to be told twice. He turned and hurried the hell out of there.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

A quick debrief with Charlie and Kevin about the routine changes went over well. Sam grinned when both of them were more than willing to change things around. He made sure that all of the performers knew about the changes and he reassured them that there wouldn't be any problems tonight.

 

Every time he was on stage, his eyes would seek out Gabriel, as he seemed to be constantly lurking in the wings, looking for someone. Or some _thing_. Whatever it was, Sam couldn't blame him.

 

He took a deep breath and focused, they only had three hours until their performance that night, and he needed to finish the checks on Castiel and Gabriel's equipment.

 

It didn't take him long and he was relieved when he could find no sign of tampering with anything that belonged to Gabriel. One of Castiel's silks had a long rip in it, along the seam, and as far as he knew, it shouldn't have been there.

 

Sam ordered the replacement brought out from storage and had it changed out, going over the change with Castiel, and the tear that had happened. Castiel reassured him that it wasn't out of the ordinary for that to happen, since they were put under heavy stress regularly.

 

Even if it wasn't unusual for that to happen to the scarves, it put him on high alert. Castiel had reassured him and said that the rip wouldn't have made a big issue with his performance, as it wasn't in the bigger of the two, but he double checked all of them again, just in case, and went back to Gabriel's equipment again.

 

Everything went the way it was supposed to. That night in the booth, Sam's heart was in his throat as Gabriel stepped on stage. He made certain that he didn't miss a single one of Gabriel's cues, even as his breath caught when Gabriel swung out over the audience, exactly where the issue had happened last night...

 

But this time was flawless, and Gabriel leapt from one trapeze to another, the crowd gasping, not even aware of the safety net that was in place, just in case. Sam withdrew it immediately and Gabriel started his graceful return to the ground. The rest of the routine was on ground level and there were no issues, each of the props moving to his command as Gabriel leapt off of them and onto them interchangeably.

 

He was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and Sam had to shake himself to keep his focus on the routine and the timing needed and not staring at Gabriel. Sam gave himself a moment to wonder what it would be like to watch Gabriel from the theater, to be swept completely away in the story that he was telling, screaming, with his entire body.

 

It was likely even better. Maybe he'd get a chance to see it one of these days.

 

When Gabriel took his bow the audience was immediately on their feet, cheering for him and Sam had no doubt they'd all seen what had happened yesterday. It was a triumphant moment for Gabriel and Sam put the spotlight on him, allowing him to wave and blow a kiss to the audience before running back to the wings.

 

Sam grinned and turned his attention to prepping for Castiel's routine. He had a few minutes before he needed to start, and he traded places with Kevin, making his way to the green room, grabbing a water and chugging it down. Gabriel was in there a moment later, a huge, triumphant grin on his face.

 

"Sammy! We did it!"

 

His usual protest that he preferred Sam died in his throat as Gabriel rushed towards him and wrapped him in a hug. Sam laughed and picked Gabriel up, spinning him around, staring as Gabriel immediately burst out laughing before he was put back down.

 

When Gabriel raised an eyebrow, Sam just shrugged and grinned back at him. "You looked like you wanted to celebrate. I was obliging it."

 

"Of course I'm celebrating!" Gabriel said, striding over to the table to grab a bottle of water, chugging it down. "That was fucking _perfect_!"

 

Sam laughed. "I _was_ running it."

 

"I know!" Gabriel said, his hands moving excitedly. "I knew you were with me every single step of the way and I could just fall into the routine, I didn't have to be thinking about what might happen if you missed the cue, you had _all_ of them down!"

 

Sam let Gabriel babble a little more before he had to tell Gabriel to go burn off the energy, because he had to get back and take care of Castiel's routine, which was about to start in a few minutes.

 

Gabriel let him go and Sam smiled again, promising me to meet Gabriel in the lobby after the show was done for the evening, so they could head back to his place. Sam did his absolute best to make sure he didn't let his heart beat too fast at that.

 

He got back to the control booth just as Castiel was about to come on and Kevin gladly handed over the controls. Sam settled into the seat and took a deep breath, focusing on the screens. Castiel's routine was very easy from their perspectives, but he had to keep a very close eye on Castiel. If one single thing went wrong, it could be disastrous for him.

 

Sam let himself settle into the rhythm of following the routine, adjusting the lights moment by moment to follow the changing colors of the scarves as Castiel twisted himself and slowly continued to raise himself up and along the silk.

 

Before he knew it, he was done with both of them and they'd survived the night without issue. Sam sank back into the seat and the sound of his phone beeping drew his attention. Oh, _right_. He'd called Dean earlier and left a message explaining the situation.

 

He gave the controls over to Charlie and Kevin, letting them focus on Lucifer and Michael's routine while he went into the other room to take the phone call. Sam knew this wasn't going to be pretty, but Dean would hopefully be all for it when he understood what was going on.

 

Sam opened his phone and brought it up to his ear. "Now, before you freak out on me-"

 

"You couldn't give me more warning?!" Dean snapped. "I mean, for fuck's sake, do we even have clean sheets for both of those beds? When was the last time we cleaned those bathrooms?! They're staying in one of the fanciest hotels on the strip, what on earth makes you think they want-"

 

"Those places are public," Sam snapped, interrupting Dean's tirade. "It's still a hotel, it's still completely open to the public, and considering this is about a stalker, I do understand why they don't feel safe!"

 

Dean was silent on the other line and Sam took a deep breath, trying to relax. "I'm sorry, Dean. But they're both worried, and I've never seen Gabriel scared. He did almost die, last night."

 

Dean huffed. "You think him staying with us is going to make him feel safe?"

 

"I think him staying with us will make him relax considering we're armed to the damn teeth," Sam said with a bit of a laugh.

 

Dean rolled his eyes. “All right, fine, but I’m not cleaning up, and if either of them bitch about the state of the house-”

 

“Dean, it’s _Gabriel_ , of course he is going to bitch about the state of the house, but he’ll be safe and ultimately that’s what he wants,” Sam cut in, looking back out over the crowd backstage. “Now I gotta go. We’ll be there in a few hours.”

 

Dean grumbled under his breath. “I’ll pull out the clean sheets.”

 

Sam beamed. “Thank you, Dean.”

 

A click in his ear was all the answer he got, but if Dean was really angry about it, he would have put up far more of a fight. Sam relaxed and went back up to the control booth to check and make sure there were no issues with Lucifer and Michael’s routines. They were both going on without issue by the looks of things. _Good_.

 

By the time the rest of the performance was over, Sam knew Gabriel and Castiel were eager for a night at a place that they could feel safe. Sam took them out the security exit where no patrons or ticket holders were allowed and bundled them into his car.

 

“I feel very secretive,” Gabriel said, adjusting the bag on his shoulder as he slid into the SUV.

 

Castiel hummed and leaned back against the seat. “You are sure your brother does not mind us imposing on you, Sam?”

 

Sam shrugged. “Oh, he’ll bitch, mostly because he doesn’t want to clean and while I totally get that, so you’ll have to excuse the mess, he also understands the situation that you guys are in.” He looked over at Castiel and Gabriel and smiled. “Don’t worry. He won’t put up that much of a fight, just say you want to watch Die Hard and he’ll shut up.”

 

Castiel turned to Gabriel and raised an eyebrow. “Die Hard?

 

“Well,” Gabriel said, snickering as Sam hit the highway and started to take them away from the strip. “I think that absolutely settles what movie we are going to be watching his evening.”

 

Castiel blinked in confusion and turned to Sam. “Does it?”

 

Sam laughed. “I don’t think you’ll be able to get out of watching it after you tell Dean that.”

 

It was only another fifteen minutes before Sam pulled into the driveway of his house. “Home sweet home. Come on. Dean’s inside, and he promised to order pizza.”

 

Gabriel grinned. “Sure do know how to show people a warm welcome, Winchester,” he said, following Sam up the sidewalk and to the front door.

 

Sam unlocked the door and immediately tapped in the security code. “That’s the idea. And it’s not the strip, so you know you’re far away from cameras if you want to be.”

 

Gabriel headed down the hallway and looked around. It clearly was a bachelor pad for two men, shoes and boots strewn all along the hallway, and a hoodie thrown over a nearby chair. It felt like a home. He headed for where he could hear the TV on and put his hands on his hips.

 

“Well, it certainly isn’t the Ritz-”

 

“Don’t bitch, I’m the one with the pizza!” Dean called from the other side of the couch.

 

“Gabriel is merely being facetious and attempting to be annoying-”

 

“He’s succeeding,” Dean muttered.

 

Castiel walked around the couch and managed to smile at Dean. He hadn’t seen him in several weeks. He looked well, as he always did. “We appreciate your hospitality. We _both_ do, Dean” he said, looking at Gabriel.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Gabriel said with a wave, dropping his duffel bag by the couch and flopping down into an armchair. “Cas, this is the moment that you’re supposed to tell Dean you’ve never seen Star Wars or Die Hard.”

 

Castiel turned to look at Dean. “Yes, apologies. I have not seen either, and Sam indicated you would find this unacceptable.”

 

Dean blinked at Castiel. “We’ve been friends for how long and you’ve never told me this?!”

 

Sam laughed and headed for his bedroom. “Get settled in, Cas, you’re about to have a marathon.”

 

Sam relaxed as the rest of the night was uneventful outside of the strange question from Cas that would send the rest of them into peals of laughter. He managed to get a grateful Gabriel and Castiel bundled into bed and settled into his own room, keeping his gun safe unlocked next to the bed. It was better safe than sorry.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

Sam didn’t bother trying to get up at his usual time. There was no need to potentially wake Gabriel and Castiel at five am when they needed the rest. He let his alarm snooze until seven and crawled out of bed to go make coffee for them. They were definitely going to need it.

 

He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and padded into the kitchen. Sam didn’t bother with a shirt, it was too damn hot this time of the year when you didn’t need to wear one. He got the coffee started and grabbed the eggs out of the fridge.

 

Gabriel woke up to the smell of heavenly, blessed coffee. He rubbed his eyes and padded towards the kitchen and froze in the doorway. Jesus christ on a fucking _cracker_. He’d known Sam was gorgeous, in the abstract way that anyone built like Sam, who smiled like him, was going to be built. But like this? Soft, approachable and wearing half the clothing he normally was? Fuck, he’d never wanted Sam more.

 

When Sam turned to face him, jumping a little at his appearance, Gabriel managed to smile. Nevermind that his eyes were a little bit riveted to the fact that Sam was clearly wearing nothing under his sweatpants. Absolutely nothing. And that definitely wasn’t his dick that he was staring at.

 

Gabriel coughed and forced his eyes back up to Sam. “Coffee?” he asked, his voice hopeful.

 

“Yeah,” Sam agreed, handing it over to Gabriel with a smile.

 

 _Thank fuck for quick recoveries_ , Gabriel thought as he took the cup from Sam and sipped at it.

 

The next afternoon passed without incident, thank goodness, but Sam knew that Gabriel and Castiel were waiting for the inevitable. No matter how vigilant they were, until they caught the bastard stalking them, things would continue to happen.

 

Sam pushed his fingers through his hair. The worry was taking it's toll on Gabriel and Castiel. Neither of them were sleeping through the night, even though they both sorely needed it. Sam took a deep breath and exhaled, hard.

 

He'd already checked the equipment tonight and so had Jess. Everything would go fine. The cops thought they had a lead on the stalker, and soon things would die down. It might also be a damn good thing for him, since he wasn't sure how much longer he could resist the adorableness of sleepy Gabriel wandering around his living room before he had coffee.

 

Sam was almost positive that he had been in a state of near or constant arousal ever since Gabriel had made it clear that he would be treating the place like home and had proceeded to fill an entire cabinet with candy and wander around in nothing but a white undershirt and bright red satin boxers.

 

Sam hated those boxers. He really, really did. He already knew how good Gabriel's ass looked in jeans, and in his outfit for performances, but now, with those bare legs, and the thighs that were made for marks, bare to his gaze...

 

Yeah, he hated those boxers, a hell of a lot. Sam blew out a breath and looked at the board in front of him as people started to file into the theater. He looked up at the grates and ladders above the stage. Sam squinted and frowned when he realized that there was someone up there. He grabbed his headset and yanked it on.

 

"Be advised, we are live, customers are now coming into the theater. Whoever is up in the rafters, get the hell out, now!" Sam snapped, adjusting the camera to try to see who was up there.

 

A chorus of agreements came over the radio a moment later, and despite Jess climbing up immediately, she didn't see anyone there. Sam got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

 

"Sam, are you sure you saw someone?" Jess asked, switching over to a private channel, looking towards the booth at the back of the theater.

 

"Yes," Sam said, his hands flying over switches. He'd ordered Kevin and Charlie to let him have control for the night, because now he was almost positive something was going to happen. "I am positive. We need to check Castiel and Gabriel's equipment again."

 

"Sam-"

 

"No!" Sam snapped. "If someone got through and was able to tamper with the trapeze-"

 

"All right," Jess said, taking a deep breath. "Gabriel first, I can get him done. But I didn't see anyone up here Sam, and they would have had to go down the way I came up!"

 

"I know," Sam said, chewing on his lip. Which meant that whoever was up there, was either still up there, and Jess could potentially be in danger, or he had figured out another way down. He blew out a breath and focused on the board in front of him. Gabriel's routine was coming up shortly and he needed to make sure there were no issues.

 

~!~

 

After double-checking Gabriel's equipment and making sure there are no further problems with it, Sam gives the green light for the show to go ahead and start. As he settled in at the board, watching the show start and pick up steam, no issues.

 

"Sam," Jessica said, her voice cackling over the headset. "I can't finish looking at Castiel's scarves. I've gotten through the first two, they're fine, but the third one is already strung up!"

 

"Okay," Sam said, taking a deep breath. "We checked it this afternoon. Spread it out best you can and give it another cursory check. Alert Cas, ask him if he wants the safety net."

 

It was a few minutes later that Jess' voice came back over the headset. "Cas says he's good without the safety net. He'll be fine."

 

Sam took a deep breath and nodded, focusing on the stage in front of him. Castiel's routine would be starting soon.  

 

"Sam?" Kevin asked, stepping up close to him. "Do you really think that someone would try to hurt Castiel too?"

 

Sam turned to look at Kevin and forced a smile onto his face. "I don't want to think so, but it's better safe than sorry right?"

 

He hit the button for the transitional lighting that would set up Castiel for his entrance. "At this point, anything that happens is in Castiel's hands."

 

"He'll be fine," Kevin said with certainty.

 

Sam wanted to be just as sure. He tightened his fingers around the handle on the board that would bring up the lights highlighting the long towers of silk. Pure silk. Strong as steel when it needed to be. Castiel would be fine.

 

He hit the lights and watched Castiel start the routine. As the minutes ticked by and Castiel started to climb his way up the silk, twisting it around himself, Sam relaxed, taking slow and deep breaths. He'd freaked out for no reason.

 

Castiel pushed one of the smaller groupings of silk away from him and started the slow ascent that would end in his dramatic finale, untwisting and stopping a few feet from the stage. Sam sucked in a breath and watched as it went exactly as planned, Castiel climbing almost to the top where the silk was attached to a rafter.

 

Then Castiel swung wildly and Sam zoomed in on the image. Castiel's face was panicked and he was staring upwards.

 

"Safety net! _Now_!" Sam shouted into the radio. "We have an emergency!"

 

A flurry of action came over the radio, but it wasn't fast enough. Castiel rocked once more and then the silk lines at the top snapped. "No!"

 

Castiel fell in what was almost slow motion. Sam knew it was more than sixty feet and it would take mere seconds for Castiel to hit the ground. Except, just before he hit the ground, Castiel managed to snag the smaller lines of silk, cutting off some of his momentum before he hit the stage. Sam was too far to hear the sound of broken bones, but he had no doubt it had happened.

 

Sam shoved the house lights up. "Ambulance! Get them on call, now! Front lines, drop the curtain! Security, escort the customers out, and let the front desk know to issue refunds!" he snapped, flying into action. "And someone fucking tell Gabriel!"

 

Sam left Kevin in charge of the booth and ran for the backstage, cursing himself for ever letting the routine go off. He should have known better, he had had a bad feeling about the performance the entire time! He got there just as the paramedics were, and he nearly fell over in relief when he realized that Castiel was alive, his chest rising and falling. "He's alive?"

 

"He's got two broken legs and a broken wrist, but he'll live," one of the paramedics said over her shoulder. "We need to get him to the hospital. He's got a compound fracture in his left leg."

 

"Of course-"

 

"Castiel!" Gabriel shouted, flying around the corner a moment later. He gripped the side of Castiel's gurney and followed the paramedics, explaining that he was Castiel's brother and next of kin. Sam could hear the murmuring and fear of the audience behind the curtain and he walked over to the piles of silk on the stage.

 

He couldn't touch it, not until the police investigation had happened, but it was easy enough to see the frayed ends of the silk where it had been hanging from the rafters. Just as easy as it was to see the pool of blood where Castiel had landed. Sam cursed and walked away from it, pacing angrily.

 

Naomi was backstage a moment later and Sam trudged over to her, knowing that he had to explain exactly what had had happened. He’d make to the hospital later and pick up Gabriel and Castiel.

 

 

~!~

 

 

“Don’t try to tell me you’re okay! You are not okay!” Gabriel snapped, pacing along Castiel’s bedside, looking at the three casts Cas was wearing.

 

“I’m not dead, Gabriel,” Castiel said, his voice quiet. “I very easily could have been. Instead I have broken bones that are going to heal.”

 

“And pulled muscles and bruised ribs!” Gabriel rattled off, his voice shaking.

 

“Gabriel,” Castiel said, his voice calm. “I will recover. I _promise_. I’ll be walking my way through physical therapy in six weeks.”

 

Gabriel slumped into a chair at Cas’ bedside and stared at him. “I’m sorry that this happened to you.”

 

Castiel gave Gabriel a weak smile and looked up when someone knocked on the door. “Gabriel? Could you see who that is?”

 

“Don’t know who the hell else it could be, since the police have already been here to quiz you non-stop about all of the shit that you don’t know-”

 

“Gabriel,” Cas admonished.

 

Gabriel yanked open the door and blinked in surprise at Sam. “Sam!”

 

Sam immediately wrapped his arms around Gabriel and pulled him in for a tight hug. “How is he?”

 

Gabriel definitely didn’t sink into Sam’s arms for a few seconds, savoring just how good it felt to be held like this. He definitely didn’t do that. He pushed himself back after several long seconds and waved Sam into the room. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

 

Sam stepped in and smiled gratefully when he saw that Castiel was awake. “Cas, I’m so sorry.”

 

Castiel blinked at Sam and reached for the water on the side table, lifting it to his lips. “Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault, Sam.”

 

“I should have checked the equipment again, I should have done something to make sure this didn’t happen-”

 

“Sam,” Castiel interrupted. “It’s all right. I’m going to be all right, and other than a new appreciation for how I have my silks set up, nothing is going to change when I return to work, healed.”

 

Sam exhaled hard and walked closer to Castiel’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from seeing my bone poking out of my shin, but I am fine otherwise. I can’t feel anything, and they put several pins in to make sure the bone did not move,” Castiel said.

 

“I know you probably gave the entire story to the police, but do you know who might have done this?” Sam asked, looking between them both.

 

Gabriel fell into the chair at Castiel’s bedside and looked up at him. “I think we might need to tell Sam about our sordid past, Cas.”

 

“Our?” Sam asked in surprise.

 

Castiel exhaled hard. “Prior to working for the company we do now, we worked for a man who ran a private show by the name of Fergus Crowley. He and I dated for a time, but Gabriel and I were both a part of his show. We did routines similar to what we did now.”

 

Sam nodded and glanced at both of them. “Right. Sounds like a dick and all I know is his name.”

 

Gabriel barked out a laugh and dropped his head into his hands. “You’re not wrong.”

 

“Agreed,” Castiel said. “When I ended our relationship, Gabriel and I also terminated our contracts with him. We, ah, I believe the legal term is that we bought them out.”

 

Gabriel huffed and looked down at his hands. “Old Crow didn’t take too kindly to that. But he’d started, well. Being too controlling of Cas. I suggested we get out, exercised our legal right and got the hell out of there.”

 

“Well, I am glad that you got away from the bastard,” Sam said, looking between them. “But I don’t see how this ties into the situation we’re in right now.”

 

“Well, Old Crow was pissed we left. We were his headliners and we made him a pretty penny. The cost of buying out our contracts wouldn’t have been enough to cover finding more headliners like us,” Gabriel said, taking over the story from Castiel. “He sent us several letters, threatening to sue.”

 

Castiel continued. “Though he attempted, the lawsuit was dropped. We were within the right of our contracts, and the buyout was perfectly legal.” He sighed, hard. “Since then, we have received multiple threatening messages. It’s been some time, but they escalated slowly. The police have been aware, but haven’t been able to track down our stalker.”

 

“But you believe it’s Crowley,” Sam said, looking between the both of them.

 

Castiel nodded and looked at the blankets. "We both do, though we do not have evidence to substantiate our claims."

 

Gabriel blew out a hard breath and looked over at Castiel and then to Sam. "What I don't get is why. Nearly killing me, and nearly killing Cas? There's no win in that for him, and if there's no win, I don't understand why he is bothering."

 

"Which is why the police are only cursorily looking into him and not with more detail," Sam said, looking between them again.

 

Gabriel and Castiel nodded together and Sam walked closer to the bed, staring at the cast on Castiel's leg. "Are you both still comfortable staying with Dean and I, or would you like to go home?"

 

Gabriel shrugged a little. "Are we still welcome?"

 

Sam blinked and turned to Gabriel. "What? Of course you're _welcome_ , but I didn't know if you would-"

 

"Sam," Castiel interrupted, smiling at him. "We would very much like to continue to stay with your brother and yourself if that is alright with you."

 

Sam grinned and nodded. "Yeah, Cas, more than fine. At least we can make sure you're safe, and we've got plenty of movies for you to watch while we recover."

 

"Dean has given me a list," Castiel said, looking at his phone. He frowned a little and opened the message from Dean again. "It is a long list."

 

Gabriel laughed and stepped closer to Sam, leaning his head against him a little bit more. "We need to catch the bastard, Sam."

 

"I know," Sam said, wrapping an arm around Gabriel's shoulders, giving him a slow squeeze. "The entire stage crew is on high alert, and we aren't going to let anything like this happen again if it's within our power to prevent it. Please believe me when I say that."

 

Gabriel nodded and exhaled hard. "Cas, when did the doctor say you could go home?"

 

"Tomorrow," Castiel said, his face twisting grumpily. "I need to be under observation for the evening in case there are any detrimental effects to the drugs they are giving me before they can release me."

 

"And I'm guessing you're on nothing but bed rest until further notice?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

"You would be correct," Castiel said, tangling his fingers in the blankets. "It will be a frustrating recovery, but I will be able to recover, and that is the most important thing."

 

"Agreed," Sam said with a nod. "You rest up and heal, and worry about everything else when you get back."

 

Castiel nodded and settled back into the pillows with a yawn. "I shall endeavor to do my very best, Sam."

 

Sam gave Gabriel another squeeze. "You will. You're the most stubborn asshole I've ever met besides Gabriel, and that is a feat in itself."

 

Gabriel looked at Castiel and bit down on his lip hard. _Fuck_. They needed to figure all of this shit out, and they needed to do it sooner than later.

 

"Don't worry," Sam said, rubbing his hand up and down Gabriel's arm. "He'll be all right, and so will you. Asshole ex-boyfriend or not. You'll both be okay."

 

Gabriel nodded.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

"You don't have a choice, Gabriel," Naomi snapped. "You will take mandatory leave, and not come here until your stalker has been captured."

 

"You can't do that!" Gabriel said, striding towards her. "I can't just sit around and twiddle my thumbs until they catch the bastard!"

 

Naomi spun around to him, her eyes flashing in anger. "Would you like, _instead_ , to wait until he gets a proper chance at you and you end up dead? Like Castiel might have been?"

 

Gabriel flinched and looked down at the floor. Castiel was home from the hospital, but still loopy on pain meds and Dean had taken a few days off to look after him. Apparently they hadn’t needed to bother since he was going to be there as well.

 

Hell, maybe they should stop imposing on Sam and his brother and just go back to their house already. Gabriel pushed his fingers through his hair. "So what are you going to do?"

 

"Are you rational again?" Naomi asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

Gabriel nodded, blowing out a breath. "I'm frustrated and scared, Naomi."

 

"I know you are. And you are in no shape to perform. Just take a week, Gabriel. It doesn't have to be until the stalker is caught. But take a few days to get your head back to where it needs to be," she said, looking at him. "Take a few days to spend with your brother, keep him company. He'll have cabin fever, just like you would."

 

Gabriel nodded and smiled at her a little bit. "You promise you'll take me back in a week?"

 

Naomi nodded. "One week, you'll be back out there on Monday, no matter what, you have my word."

 

Gabriel stared at the floor. "I really just want all of this shit to be over and done with. I am done with that bastard, so is Cas, he shouldn't have been able to follow us here."

 

"You're right," Naomi said. "He shouldn't have been able to. But he has. And he managed to get to Cas and I am not going to allow him to get to you, too."

 

Gabriel nodded and stood up from the chair. "All right, I'll scram and get the hell out of your office."

 

Naomi nodded to him. "Yes, that is a good idea. I've got plenty to do this afternoon and convincing stubborn performers to take time off is not a part of that."

 

Gabriel headed out the door and wondered if he should just head straight back to Sam's place. No, Sam would worry and he didn't want him to worry. He headed up for the tech booth, waving at Jessica as she came down the stairs and grinned at him.

 

He froze when Lucifer suddenly slammed the door open and came stomping past him. Gabriel got the hell out of his way and blinked when he received a fierce scowl in return. "What the hell crawled up your ass and died?" he snapped.

 

Lucifer looked down his nose at Gabriel and scowled. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he said, striding down the stairs past Gabriel. "Just get out of my way, Novak."

 

"With pleasure, asshat," Gabriel called, climbing the last few steps. He stepped into the room and was surprised to see Sam standing alone, in the middle of the room, his hands clenched into fists. "Sam?"

 

Sam immediately snapped to attention the second he heard Gabriel's voice, and he relaxed, the tension from Lucifer finally leaving his body. "Sorry, Gabriel. Had to have a less than pleasant conversation."

 

"Definitely looks like it," Gabriel agreed, studying Sam carefully. "You want to tell me what happened? I'm happy to listen if you need someone to dish to. There's no love lost between me and Luci."

 

Sam laughed and shook his head. "No, it's okay, I promise that we're more than fine. He just likes to be persistent and I wish that he understood the no-means-no concept a little bit better. It's decidedly lacking."

 

Gabriel scowled. "If you aren't interested in him, he should just take a hint."

 

"That's what I would love, more than anything else," Sam said with a sigh, pushing his fingers through his hair. "But he's determined to win me over with persistence."

 

"I think we need a topic change!" Gabriel said, clapping his hands together. "I've been fired for a week!"

 

Sam's mouth dropped open and he stared at Gabriel in surprise. "You've been, what?"

 

"Naomi has put me on mandatory leave until next Monday," Gabriel said with a shrug. "I wanted to come up here and tell you to see if you wanted me to stay until you were ready to leave and I could let you know not to do my routine prep."

 

Sam blinked in surprise and tilted his head. "You seem surprisingly okay with this."

 

Gabriel laughed. "Oh, I pitched my fit with Naomi. She convinced me that it would be good to maybe stay home and take care of Cas, and that it would help me get my head back on straight."

 

Sam hummed and nodded. "Yeah, I agree with her. Some time for you to relax and not think about any of this mess would definitely be good."

 

"Do," Gabriel started and stopped, fidgeting. How did he even begin to ask this question? "Do you want me to, uh, go home?"

 

“Yeah, it might not be a bad idea to head home and start on dinner,” Sam said, turning back to the board for a moment. “I’ll talk to Naomi and see if I can get an extra day off this week, stay at the house and help you with Cas.”

 

Gabriel opened his mouth to say that Sam had completely misunderstood his question and that wasn’t what he was asking at all, but… If that’s how Sam had interpreted it, maybe he would just leave it for now. He smiled. “Yeah, sounds good. Need anything else sir babysitter?”

 

Sam turned around in his seat and looked at Gabriel. “Yeah. Stay safe and text me when you’re home, okay?”

 

Gabriel immediately relaxed and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Promise.”

 

~!~

 

Taking Cas home from the hospital the following day was as uneventful as it could possibly get. And even though Gabriel took the long route to Dean and Sam's house, there was no sign of any one following them or keeping an eye on them. When he finally pulled up to the front door, Dean was waiting for them and he didn’t miss the way his brother absolutely lit up at the realization.

 

Gabriel was happy for them, he really was, even though they seemed to be figuring things out a single tiny step at a time. They'd get there eventually. He parked the car in the garage next to Dean's Impala and was glad that Dean decided to help Cas out. He wanted nothing more than to pass out for hours and not think about the fact that he wouldn't be working next week and it was going to cause so much trouble for both the crew and the production.

 

"Gabriel?" Castiel called.

 

Gabriel looked up and realized that Castiel and Dean were already inside the house. He climbed out of the car and pushed his hair out of his face. It was a staycation. A week's worth of doing nothing. He should be excited about this, he could do whatever the hell he wanted, and not even Cas could keep him from doing certain things. Like updating his porn collection. Or something useful. Like, categorizing his porn collection.

 

He chuckled and headed for the door, adjusting the bag on his shoulder as Dean brought Castiel to the couch and sat him down, demanding to know what movies he wanted to started watching. Gabriel smiled as the two of them immediately sat on the couch and got Castiel's leg propped up and on Dean's lap. He settled into the reclining chair not far away and grinned as Dean put in The Hangover. _Excellent_. Castiel would be suitably horrified by the movie.

 

~!~

 

Three days and two dozen movies later, Gabriel was ready to tear his hair out. Castiel possessed some supernatural sense of patience, where nothing at all ever seemed to frustrate him. When he had to stop and recover after walking across the house, he didn't get annoyed, he just leaned against a wall, or slumped into a chair or something similar until he had recovered enough to keep moving.

 

Gabriel, on the other hand, was ready to sneak out of the house and go to work with Sam, just so he didn't have to sit here for another day, being entirely useless. Naomi was even paying him for the time, which was completely unfair. He blew out a hard breath and tried not to be frustrated.

 

"Gabriel?" Castiel called.

 

Gabriel immediately jumped out of the chair, walking over to Cas, eager to be given something, anything to do. "Yeah, Cas, what's up?"

 

"You do not have to stay here with me. I know that there are other things you want to be doing," he said, clearing his throat a little. "If you would like to go out-"

 

"I can't," Gabriel snapped, pushing his fingers through his hair angrily. "And risk someone seeing me and following us back here? They know you can't exactly run away at the moment, I'm sure they're just waiting for me to do something stupid."

 

"Gabriel," Castiel said. "You cannot be expected to stay here for the entire week."

 

Gabriel sighed and paced across the room quickly. "It would be better if I did, and we both know it."

 

"Yes, perhaps, but you are also unable to sit still," Castiel pointed out, watching as Gabriel paced across the room for the fourth time.

 

Gabriel froze in the middle of the room and looked up at the ceiling in frustration. This was ridiculous. Absolutely _ridiculous_. "I just want to be doing something. Either working, or helping, or something, something that would make sure you aren't going to get hurt again!"

 

"Or you," Castiel added.

 

Gabriel waved that off. He didn't give a shit if he ended up getting hurt again. That would be par for the course and something that he would deal with. "Cas-"

 

"Gabriel," Castiel interrupted, sitting up on the couch a little bit better. "Go do _something_. You clearly need the distraction and are refusing to do so. I am now telling you that you are distracting and making me tense, so you need to find another outlet."

 

Gabriel made an angry noise and paced towards the room that he had made his own. He shut the door behind him and flopped down on the bed, well aware how much he was acting like an angry teenager. He just needed to be useful! What if Naomi found another headliner that wasn't going to cause her these kinds of issues? It wouldn't cost them much of anything to buy them out of the contracts. Not for a company like theirs.

 

Gabriel gave a frustrated shout into the pillow and then sat up, combing his hair back from his face. _Damnit_. He would need to go with Sam to work tomorrow. He didn't need to perform, but if he was at least there, he wouldn't worry about being cooped up here. But that would leave Castiel here by himself and he couldn't do that _either_ and-

 

"Gabriel?"

 

Gabriel sat up on the bed at the sound of Sam's voice and frowned at him. "Hi, is everything alright?"

 

Sam smiled. "I was coming to ask you that question, actually. Castiel said that you have been agitated today. What's going on?"

 

Gabriel shrugged that off and refocused on Sam. "I'm fine. Just feeling the cabin fever. I think I'm going to come with you to the stage tomorrow."

 

"No you aren't," Sam protested, shaking his head. "You are under strict orders to stay home and have a vacation-"

 

"I'm going crazy!" Gabriel shouted, standing up, tugging on the ends of his hair. "I'm useless, and I'm sitting here, and I can barely help Castiel, you guys are all getting buried in work and it's all of our fault and there's nothing that I can do to fix it! Fuck, Sam, I need to do something!"

 

"You are doing something," Sam said, reaching out to touch Gabriel's arm.

 

"No I'm not!" Gabriel shouted. "I'm sitting here, at home, while you guys try to catch the guy doing this! I'm useless!"

 

"Gabriel-"

 

"No!" Gabriel paced across the room, spinning to face Sam. "Why would Naomi even take me back after all of this? Maybe she's spending the rest of this week in contract negotiations so she can find someone better until Cas comes back!"

 

Sam blinked in surprise. "What? No! She's hoping that you get rest and they're planning for your return on Monday, just like they said!"

 

"Why would they bother?" Gabriel said with a cruel laugh, pacing towards the door. "There's no point in it! I'm a two-bit show compared to Cas!"

 

"No you aren't!" Sam growled, stalking towards Gabriel. "You are an incredibly talented athlete and artist!"

 

Gabriel scoffed. "So I can climb and jump on a trapeze. Whatever! Not like that isn't replaceable."

 

Sam growled again and grabbed Gabriel's shoulders, shaking him, hard. "You are not replaceable!"

 

Gabriel gave a sad little laugh. "If you don't think I am, you don't know Vegas. How long do I have left in my career, huh? Three years? Maybe four if I'm lucky, before they start looking for someone younger and-"

 

Sam cut Gabriel off with a harsh kiss, pinning him to the door, his hands slipping to Gabriel's waist, gripping him tight as he pressed in close, devouring Gabriel's mouth. By the time his mind caught back up with what had happened, they needed to breathe and he pulled away, staring at Gabriel in shock and a little fear. "I, uh-"

 

Gabriel didn't bother letting Sam get another word in. He stood up on his tiptoes and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck, pulling him back in again. "About time, Winchester."

 

Sam laughed into the kiss and tightened his grip on Gabriel's hips before lifting him easily, pressing a leg between his. Now they had a much easier angle and Gabriel was making such very lovely noises into his mouth. He knew that the door was definitely not the place to keep doing this, but fuck, he wasn't about to pull away from Gabriel, not yet.

 

Gabriel opened his eyes slowly and couldn't help grinning at Sam. "You know, if you kissing me to shut me up during arguments is going to be a thing? I'm just putting it out there that I really like this plan."

 

Sam kissed Gabriel again, this time licking into his mouth, slow and easily. "I think that I like that plan too."

 

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

Gabriel just made a pleased noise against Sam's lips and reached up, tangling his fingers into Sam's hair, moaning when he realized it was just as soft as it looked and _fuck_ , that was just not fair. Sam just shivered and pressed in closer, and they needed to move the hell away from the door. He pulled back from the kiss and banged his head on the door, wincing.

 

"Shit, sorry!" Sam said, pulling his head back.

 

Gabriel snickered and shook his head. "Nah, that was my fault. Just, maybe we should do this somewhere that isn't the door? Maybe with less clothing?"

 

Sam raised an eyebrow and grinned at Gabriel. "That isn't a little fast for you?"

 

"Sam," Gabriel said, his voice a little impatient as he stripped off a shirt and kicked off his socks. "How long have we known and worked together?"

 

"Uh," Sam managed, completely distracted by the pale skin that was suddenly displayed in front of him. Jesus, but now he wanted to leave marks all over Gabriel's skin. "A couple of years, at least?"

 

"Right. So, I've been lusting after you for at least that long, so hurry up and get naked, okay?" Gabriel said, dropping his belt on the floor, following it quickly with his jeans. When the sound of rustling behind him, he turned to stare at Sam and groaned. "Fuck you look even better under those t-shirts. How are you allowed?"

 

Sam laughed and kicked off his socks and jeans a moment later, leaving him in only boxers. "I think I might say the same thing about you," he said, advancing Gabriel as he backed up towards the bed. "I want to leave bite marks all over your thighs."

 

Gabriel groaned and fell back on the bed, his legs splaying open, his boxers showing off an obscene tent. His inner teenager was praying that Sam would think he was big. "Feel free!" he choked out, wiggling back on the bed.

 

Sam hummed and left his boxers on as well, kneeling on the bed between Gabriel's legs, slowly running his hands up the soft skin of his calves and behind his knees. Gabriel was so beautiful and he couldn't help smiling a little bit at the shiver that overtook Gabriel's whole body. "Want to tell me what you want?"

 

" _Well_ ," Gabriel croaked out, keeping his hips pressed to the bed. "Since I didn't exactly plan on a seduction here, and I very much doubt your condoms will fit me," he said, eyeing the erection in Sam's boxer briefs. His mouth watered, and jesus he wanted his mouth on Sam. "I think we'll have to make do with hands this time around."

 

Sam grinned and trailed his hands higher, his fingers teasing at the hem of Gabriel's boxers on mid-thigh. "Yeah? I think I can make do with that," he whispered, leaning down to nuzzle Gabriel's inner thigh, pressing a handful of kisses to it before biting down and sucking a mark into it. Gabriel made another strangled noise, and by the way his hands tightened in his hair, he was going to assume that that was a good thing and he should probably do it again.

 

"Good?" Sam asked, looking up at Gabriel, kissing his thigh again, trailing his lips up to where his fingertips were.

 

"Yeah," Gabriel whined. "Yeah, fuck, Sam, please."

 

"You know," Sam said, and he might have been enjoying his teasing of Gabriel a little bit too much. "If I thought you had to perform tomorrow, I might refrain from making too many marks, but since you have six days...if you want me to..."

 

"Yes!" Gabriel gasped, his legs falling open a little wider. "Fuck, yes, Sam, mark me up, please, fuck, please," he begged.

 

Sam gave a pleased smile and reached up, tugging the waist of Gabriel's boxers down. "Then I think that you aren't going to need these, are you?"

 

"Nope!" Gabriel agreed, helping to kick them off as Sam moved away to give him room. He was shy for a moment, but when Sam took the opportunity to take his boxers off as well, fuck, now his mouth was watering all over again. " _Jesus_ , Sam."

 

Sam grinned down at Gabriel and crawled on top of him, covering him with his body. "Too much for you to handle?"

 

"Nah," Gabriel said, reaching up and pulling Sam down for a deep kiss. "More like I want that in me this second, but that'll need to wait, since I want you now."

 

Sam chuckled and pulled back from the kiss, nosing at Gabriel's jaw, licking and sucking small marks into his neck. When he got to a collarbone, though, he couldn't resist another firm bite, sucking hard to leave a dark, purpling mark. "Fuck, these look good on your skin," he whispered, pressing a kiss to it, shivering when Gabriel moaned.

 

"I will so get you back for this," Gabriel said, his hips bucking up and into the air as Sam kissed down his chest, pausing at each nipple. "I will make you _paaaaay_ ~" the word trailed off into a moan as Sam sucked, hard, making his entire body buck under Sam. "Fuck!"

 

Sam hummed and pulled away, looking up at Gabriel as he blew a cold stream of air on Gabriel's nipple, watching it harden. "I think I like that reaction. I'll have to document that for later," he said, kissing his way down to Gabriel's stomach, teasing his belly button with his nose until Gabriel was shivering. "Don't worry," he promised, wrapping a hand around Gabriel's erection, shuddering at the moan the shorter man let out. "I'll take good care of you."

 

"Fuck!" Gabriel swore, bucking his hips up and into Sam's hand. "Fucking hell, Sam, please!" He thrashed under Sam, pushing his hips up and into the firm grip of Sam's hand. Felt so fucking good, and Sam's hand was almost big enough to cover all of him.

 

"Yeah," Sam whispered, stroking Gabriel hard and fast, teasing his thumb across the tip. He wasn't going to make Gabriel wait, he was going to give him exactly what he wanted. "I've got you, I'll take care of you, don't worry, gonna make you feel so good, I know it."

 

Gabriel whined, biting down on his lip, tangling his hands in the sheets, pulling on them hard as he rocked into Sam's hand. He wasn't going to last long like this. "Fuck, _fuck_ , Sam, please!"

 

"Mmmm," Sam hummed, watching Gabriel, hovering over him as he stroked. "I wish I could taste you," he whispered, licking his lips. He could feel Gabriel swell in his hand and gave him another squeeze as he kept up the steady rhythm. "I will, and watch you shout, losing control as I completely suck you down."

 

"Sam!" Gabriel shouted, his back bowing off the bed as he came, making a mess of his chest and stomach, shuddering as Sam stroked him through the aftershocks until he was a boneless pile on the bed.

 

Sam grinned and sat back on his heels, just admiring the picture that Gabriel made, spread out on the bed in front of him. "Good?"

 

Gabriel took another few seconds to catch his breath and held up a finger to Sam. "I normally have much better staying power. You're a lethal combination."

 

Sam laughed and stretched up and over Gabriel again, leaning in for a kiss. "I don’t mind. It was hot to watch you lose control like that."

 

Gabriel scoffed. "Yeah, if I was seventeen. I'm definitely not seventeen anymore and should have better staying power."

 

"Well," Sam said, leaning down and nuzzling Gabriel's neck. "You are forgiven for any assumed deficiencies in staying power. But it was hot, you are gorgeous, and I'd really like to stop debating this now."

 

"Shit!" Gabriel swore, realizing that he had left Sam hanging. He gave Sam's shoulders a shove and rolled him over and onto his back. He settled on Sam's thighs and leaned down to press a kiss to Sam's chest. "See, you were so good, I completely forgot myself."

 

Sam chuckled and then groaned when Gabriel wrapped a hand around him. The rough feel of Gabriel's hands was both surprising and perfect. He bucked up and into Gabriel's hand, precome leaking steadily out of him. "Well, now that you've remembered, I'm yours to play with."

 

Gabriel hummed and leaned down, tracing his tongue along the line of Sam's hipbone. "I think these need to be marked up, but I'll save that for another day."

 

Sam shuddered as Gabriel blew out a breath of air on the head of his cock, his hips rocking up. "Gabriel, please."

 

"Ooooh," Gabriel said, waggling his eyebrows as he moved his hand, just enough to tease Sam, dragging his thumb through the sticky precome beading at the tip. "I think I see why you were having so much fun teasing me earlier."

 

"Oh?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow at Gabriel, rocking his hips up faster. "Do tell."

 

"You begging," Gabriel said, licking his lips as he stared down at Sam's body. Fuck, he knew that Sam was tall and broad, but to have it spread out on the bed? _Amazing_. "Want to keep doing it? I might be convinced to move faster."

 

"Just remember that I'll flip you over if you tease too much," Sam said, teasing as he grinned.

 

Gabriel paused and considered that and started moving his hand a little bit faster. "I just want to hear you beg," he said, grinning a little bit wider at Sam.

 

"Mmmm," Sam moaned, rocking his hips up and into Gabriel's hand. "Please, Gabriel, want you to touch me, just like this, fuck, make me come, please," he begged, tightening his hands in the sheets.

 

" _Jesus_ ," Gabriel swore, watching as Sam bucked into his hand again and again, chasing his orgasm without any additional help. "God, you're beautiful Sam, just want to touch and kiss every inch of you."

 

Sam laughed out a little and then groaned when Gabriel's palm slid across the tip of his dick. "There's a lot of inches of me, that'd keep you busy for a while."

 

"You know," Gabriel said, tapping his jaw a little with his free hand. "Whether you meant that as a dick joke or not, it's true in both cases. Is it bad form to laugh in the middle of sex?"

 

Sam burst out laughing, his stomach scrunching up and his head falling back into the pillows. "Okay, okay, I didn't mean it as a dick joke, but jesus, Gabriel," he whispered, another burst of laughter escaping him.

 

It didn't take long for Gabriel to start stroking Sam again in earnest, regaining his attention, even after their break for laughter. "Then what would be your preference? I could sit here in silence, or I could...."

 

Sam coughed and groaned as Gabriel pressed his thumb to his frenulum, making him shudder again. "You've got a mouth. Use it. Tell me what you want to do to me next time."

 

Gabriel lit up at that idea and grinned, bright and wide. "Next time? Other than the kiss you all over thing that I mentioned. _Well_. Fuck, I am going to worship your cock, that's the first thing I'm going to do. I haven't had a chance to practice ignoring my gag reflex in a while, but you? Well, you've definitely got a reason for me to practice," he said as he gave Sam a squeeze.

 

Sam moaned again, spreading his legs wider, shutting his eyes as he imagined it. "Fuck, your mouth, would be perfect, so fucking good and _perfect_."

 

"You know it would be," Gabriel agreed, licking his lips as he stared at Sam, stroking him fast and desperate now. “But god, I’d put my mouth everywhere, Sam. Suck you down, eat you out, kiss you until you couldn’t breathe, and then cover you in marks, so everyone knows that you are mine.”

 

Sam let out a high-pitched whine, his entire body seizing up as he imagined exactly that, hickies high on his throat, visible to everyone over the edge of his collar. Gabriel's mark on his neck and fuck, he was done. He lost it, the sheets ripping under his tight grip as he came, making a mess of his abdomen and Gabriel's hand.

 

Sam was beautiful, even when he came and Gabriel was jealous for a split second, and then he was too busy staring to care. Fuck, Sam was so gorgeous. "Fuck, Sam," Gabriel whispered, climbing up to sit high on Sam's waist before he leaned in for a kiss, well aware that he was getting come all over his thighs, but fuck, he needed to kiss Sam after that, he didn't care.

 

Sam kissed Gabriel back sloppily, his entire body languid as he wrapped an arm around Gabriel, holding him close as they kissed until he was finally back and fully present. "Well, if that's how good we are together, I'm pretty sure we'll both be screaming by the time we work our way up to fucking."

 

Gabriel laughed into the kiss and climbed off Sam, stretching a little bit. "Come on, I want a shower after that, and we both need one, since I am sleeping on that bed and not up to changing the sheets just yet," he said, holding out his hand.

 

Sam grinned and climbed off the bed as well, wrapping his arms around Gabriel so he could pull him in for another kiss. "Shower sounds great."

 

And if, after another set of handjobs (because there was no way Gabriel would ever be able to resist the sight of Sam wet _and_ naked), they collapsed into bed, curled around each other to pass out. Gabriel did need to figure out if the talking about more stuff in the future was just sex talk, or if Sam wanted to actually keep this going and maybe try some other things in the future.

 

Gabriel yawned and nuzzled into Sam's neck again and relaxed. Even if he only had this for tonight, well, it was way more than he ever thought he would manage to get with Sam. He dozed off a few minutes later and sagged into the circle of Sam's arms.

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

Gabriel blinked awake and the first thing he realized was that he was warm, far, far warmer than he normally was whenever he slept by himself. When his blanket shifted and gave a small groan, Gabriel sat up in bed, his hand immediately flying to his hair. He winced. Epic bedhead. _Fantastic_. Sexiest thing ever.

 

"Gabriel?" Sam mumbled, blinking away. He glanced at the clock in the room and relaxed when he realized it was an hour before he would have to be up for work. "You okay?"

 

"Uh," Gabriel said, his shoulders tensing as he desperately tried to comb through his hair and get it to stop sticking up at awkward angles. "Yes?"

 

Sam huffed and reached up, grabbing Gabriel by the shoulders before he tugged him back down and into bed. "Relax. I don't care if you have bedhead."

 

Gabriel tensed up in Sam's arms and stared up at him, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. Did he need to pack up his stuff and get out? This was his room, Sam's was down the hall. Was Sam going to do the walk of shame back to his room?

 

Sam sighed and leaned in to kiss the top of Gabriel's head. "You're not going to go back to sleep, are you?"

 

Gabriel shook his head. "Nope, not likely."

 

"And I bet if I doze off again, you'll find a way to squirm out of here awkwardly and then avoid me?" Sam added, raising both eyebrows when Gabriel didn't respond, even though there was a blush that was growing.

 

"Right. Okay, come on, what's bothering you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Gabriel.

 

Gabriel sighed and told himself that this had been nice while he lasted. "Alright, here's the deal. I mean. Was this a one time thing? We both kinda, in the heat of the moment, said next time stuff, but is there actually going to be a next time?"

 

Sam blinked in surprise and pulled back enough to stare at Gabriel. "Did you want this to be a one time thing?"

 

"I, uh," Gabriel swallowed hard and knew that this cheeks were bright red. "No, not really?"

 

Sam relaxed and leaned in to press a kiss to Gabriel's forehead. "Alright, then we'll pack up your stuff in here and you can spend the rest of the time here in my room."

 

Gabriel's eyes widened and he stared at Sam. "Really?"

 

Sam laughed and leaned in to steal a quick kiss. "Yes, because as nice as this bed is? Mine is a hell of a lot better, and it's kinda built for me."

 

Gabriel chuckled and curled into Sam again, smiling bright and wide against Sam's skin. "That sounds really good."

 

Sam kissed the top of Gabriel's head and gave him a squeeze. "So, I gotta ask."

 

Gabriel pulled back and raised an eyebrow at Sam. "Hmm?"

 

"Is morning sex still completely off the table or...?" Sam waggled his eyebrows.

 

Gabriel burst out laughing and rolled on top of Sam. “I think I could be persuaded.”

 

Sam was leaning in for a kiss when there was a moan heard on the other side of the door. He and Gabriel froze before they burst out laughing again. “Apparently they figured things out.”

 

“Apparently,” Gabriel agreed. “Your room?”

 

“My room,” Sam said with a nod, standing up from the bed, grabbing his jeans and shirt.

 

~!~

 

Sam sighed and let Jess know that he was going up to check the wiring on Gabriel's trapeze, and to make sure that everything was all right. He headed for the ladder and started to climb. The second he was up there, he noticed a shadow standing over where Castiel's silks had been folded while he recovered. No one else should be up here this close to showtime. "Hey!" he called, walking towards them.

 

The shadow turned to him and for a split second, his face was illuminated by one of the lights. _Lucifer_. Then he turned and ran. Sam stumbled and got all the way up to the same level Lucifer had been on and chased after him. He hit the next corner hard and looked around wildly, wondering where the hell Lucifer could have gone.

 

He searched for another ten minutes, but there was no sign of him. He stepped over Castiel's silks and headed back down for the ladder again, calling for Naomi on the radio. Why would Lucifer be up in the rafters and rigging? His mind was racing and there was no way that he could possibly have for being up here, he would have let a member of tech come up for him.

 

An ugly thought occurred and he looked at where the silks were piled. Had, had Lucifer been messing with them? Could he have been the one who tampered with Gabriel and Castiel's things? But that didn't make any sense. The second Sam was back on ground level, Naomi was in front of him. Sam had no idea what his face looked like, but the second she saw him, she pulled him into an empty dressing room.

 

"Talk," she demanded.

 

"I saw Lucifer up in the rafters. He was standing over where we have Castiel's silks piled," Sam said, his mind still spinning. Why the hell would Lucifer have a reason to go after Gabriel and Castiel?

 

Naomi froze and stared at him. "Are you sure?"

 

Sam nodded and swallowed hard. "I got a clear look at his face. He managed to lose me up there, and I have no idea where he went."

 

Naomi's face went grim. "Find him. _Now_."

 

Sam watched as she got on the radio and demanded that anyone who was not doing work that would cause the show to automatically stop to drop what they were doing and find Lucifer. While Naomi normally had a radio, she didn't broadcast orders like that lightly. Sam was sure that people were leaping into motion.

 

"What about the show tonight?" Sam asked, and it felt like wool in his mouth. They didn't have _proof_ of anything, which meant the show would likely go on, but it was suspicious.

 

"I'll call the meeting now, it'll be up to the directors," Naomi said, striding to the door and opening.

 

Sam took a deep breath and followed behind her. He needed to find Lucifer, and they needed to do it now.

 

~!~

 

Sam pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration, because now there was an air of panic over the show that hadn’t been there before. Naomi was already holding multiple meetings to see if they should cancel the show tonight, while telling all of them to figure the shit out and to figure it out _now_.

 

He took a deep breath and tried to focus on thinking through the last few places that they hadn’t managed to keep an eye on.

 

Gabriel was huddled in his dressing room and Sam was doing his best not to hover over him and drive him crazy. But he needed to figure this out and they needed to catch Lucifer, and the bastard who was actually behind this.

 

He didn’t see the cloth until it was pressed up to his face and the world was fading to black.

 

~!~

 

When Sam woke up again, it was to a harsh slap on his cheek and he had to blink, blearily, at the two men standing in front of them. “Whaaa?”

 

“You couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you? You had to play the knight in shining armor. You had to try to _protect_ them,” A low voice sneered.

 

Sam blinked again, looking around the dark room they were in. There was at least one man standing in front of him and Sam could see the entire stage behind him. His eyes widened and he realized where they were. This was the old control room before the theater had been redesigned!

 

“And just for that, just because you want so _badly_ to protect them, we’re going to make sure you get a first row seat while we finish what we started.”

 

Sam opened his mouth, but it was dry, almost filled with cotton. He cleared his throat and tried to focus. “Why are you doing this?”

 

“ _Because_ ,” Lucifer said, his voice calm as he stepped around to face Sam. “As soon as those two are out of the way, Michael and I shall be the new headliners. Finally get the attention we deserve.”

 

“You’re going to kill them because you want to be a headliner?” Sam spat, dread settling into his stomach.

 

Lucifer laughed. “We never wanted to kill them! They simply have refused to realize what we are hinting at - we wanted them gone!”

 

Sam struggled against the ropes holding him in place and glared when both of them ignored him and turned to the stage as the show started. No, Naomi hadn’t been able to cancel it! “No!”

 

The sound of a gun cocking made Sam freeze.

 

“Stay quiet. We’re planning to kill you regardless, but I’d rather not have to do it here,” Crowley said, examining his fingernails.

 

“That doesn’t give me much incentive to stay quiet then, does it?” Sam snapped.

 

“I have a silencer on this gun. Now, I suggest that you behave.”

 

Sam bit down on his lip and squirmed a little bit more until his hand hit the radio on his hip and he froze, an idea coming over him. If he went on to broadcast channel, the main one, and got them talking…

 

He managed to flip the switch, twice more so he was on broadcast channel and unplugged his headset. He squeezed the grip that would broadcast his voice. “So you’re going to make me watch Gabriel die from the old control room. What kind of bullshit is that? Poetic justice?” Sam asked.

 

“Oh no,” Lucifer said, turning to face him, his eyes cruel. “This is what you may consider payment for the way that you have treated me over the past few months. Choosing _Gabriel_ over me. Pathetic.”

 

Sam kept his finger clenched down on the radio and stared at them. “I can’t believe you, Lucifer! You’re pathetic! Working with Crowley, their old stalker!”

 

Crowley laughed. “What did I say about being quiet?” He leveled the gun at Sam. “This is your last chance to close that mouth of yours. Or I _will_ shoot you.”

 

Sam snapped his mouth shut and ignored the way his fingers were starting to cramp in pain. He glared at them both and turned his attention to the show. Someone needed to get down here quick! “You won’t get away with this,” he growled and stared down the barrel of the gun placed at him.

 

“Crowley, put the gun away,” Lucifer ordered. “We do not want to leave evidence a body here would most certainly be that.”

 

Crowley scoffed and tucked it away a moment later, turning towards the stage again. “This will be a magnificent show.”

 

“You’ve taken care of both of their routines?” Lucifer asked.

 

“Oh yes. Sadly, the show will likely not go on after Gabriel’s “accident”, however, you shall have what you want,” Crowley said.

 

Sam swallowed down the horror that we welling in his stomach. Was he even broadcasting to the right channel? Had anyone heard them, or was he on his own?

 

Sam watched the show go by and dread settled into his stomach and realized that he _was_ on his own and he would need to do whatever he could to save Gabriel. He started to wriggle against his bonds again, working his hands steadily out of them, biting down on his lip to avoid crying out when he could feel the blood dripping down his hands.

 

He’d just managed to get one hand free when the door behind him blew open and a swarm of people came rushing in. It took a second, but Sam finally caught sight of the S.W.A.T. written on a vest and sagged into the chair.

 

Crowley and Lucifer were arrested only a moment later, and when the crowd pulled away from the window, Sam watched Gabriel walk out on stage and wave to everyone. “No!” he shouted. “Get Gabriel off the stage!”

 

“Sir, we’ve warned him, and all of his equipment has been checked-”

 

“No, let me out, let me out!” Sam shouted, struggling until one of the officers finally undid the ropes behind him. He leapt out of the chair and raced for the door, stumbling over some of the old wooden beams before he finally found the stage door and ripped it open.

 

He burst out into the lobby, an officer running behind him, but Sam was focused on one thing, getting to Gabriel. He raced past confused customers and into the theater from the visitor entrance and looked around wildly. If he tried to race up to Gabriel, security would stop him.

 

Sam looked around the theater and watched Gabriel dance towards the trapeze that would carry him into the air. Jessica would have checked the wires, the handle, all of that would have been checked, but the… Sam looked up at the rafters where Gabriel’s trapeze was secured and suddenly knew, without a doubt, what had been tampered with.

 

He raced for the backstage door and flew past everyone, ignoring the calls of his name as he hit the ladder that would take him up to the rafters. Sam ignored the burning pain in his forearms and started to climb as fast as he could. He didn’t have much time now. Less than a minute before Gabriel got lifted into the air by the automatic winches.

 

Sam lifted himself up and onto the rafters with a grunt and started running along the grates. Normally, they would have to keep ultra quiet when up here, but he didn’t give a shit if any customers saw or heard him. He slammed down onto his stomach when he got to the section that Gabriel’s trapeze used and he could see how the metal had been filed down.

 

Dread settled into his stomach and he reached for it, but it was a good six or seven inches away. He looked towards the stage. Gabriel was holding the trapeze up and over his head, the cue to lift him. “No!”

 

Feet on the grates behind him made him want to look up, but he tried even harder to reach the damn bar. If he could just get to it, he could make sure it stayed in place.

 

“Sam!”

 

Sam froze at the sound of his brother’s voice and looked up at him in shock. “Dean? What the-”

 

“I’ll explain afterward! Lean further, I’ll keep you anchored!” Dean snapped, helping Sam scoot over the edge so his waist and legs the only part still on the rafter. He reached up and grabbed onto the bar, holding onto it tightly as it started to shake as Gabriel rose into the air.

 

“What’s your plan?” Dean hissed, twisting his leg around another rafter bar, both of his arms wrapped tight around Sam’s legs.

 

“Keep him safe long enough to get him back on the ground! Someone’s heading down to warn him right now!” Sam snapped and then grunted in pain when Gabriel’s weight hit his forearms when the dancer started to swing. He tightened his grip and held on tight.

 

“Sam!”

 

“Order him down!” Sam shouted, not bothering to look at Kevin, focusing on keeping his grip on the bar as it started to bend where it had been chiseled down. “I don’t care about the show, make the call, _now_!”

 

Kevin began speaking rapid fire into his headset and Gabriel, who was at least fifty feet in the air, started to be lowered towards the ground, the house lights coming up. Sam almost relaxed, and that was when the bar snapped completely. In a second, he took Gabriel’s full weight on his forearms. “Ahhhh!”

 

“Sam!”

 

“Get him down!” Sam screamed, holding onto the bar tighter, the blood trailing down his hands starting to make his grip slippery. “Get him down, _now_ , Kevin!” He wouldn’t let go, wouldn’t let Gabriel get hurt, he wouldn’t, he’d hold on for as long as he needed to-

 

“Down!” Kevin confirmed and Sam felt almost all of the weight disappear. He exhaled hard and lifted the pole, bringing it to the rafters before he let go, his hands and wrists bloody. He sagged back against the railing and turned to look at Dean and Kevin.

 

“Sam?” Kevin asked, taking a step closer.

 

Sam knew it was probably a bad thing that his head was starting to swim and that everything was going a lot darker than it should have with the house lights going up, but he was in too much pain to care.

 

Didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Gabriel was _safe_.

 

~!~

 

“Two dislocated shoulders and two dislocated wrists! You had to have surgery on one of them!” Gabriel ranted, pacing along the end of Sam’s hospital bed.

 

Sam chuckled and leaned back into the pillows. “That’s what happens when a rafter breaks and I take all of your momentum and weight on my upper body.”

 

Gabriel bit down on his lip and glared at Sam through the tears. “I am so angry at you right now!”

 

“Couldn’t let you get hurt, or die,” Sam said, smiling at Gabriel. “I caught ya.”

 

Gabriel deflated and walked closer to Sam, climbing into the hospital bed with him when Sam made room for him. “I am still _very_ angry at you.”

 

Sam leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Gabriel’s head. “I know you are.” He waited another two beats before adding. “The bright side though?”

 

“There’s a bright side to all of this?” Gabriel asked, leaning back just enough to stare up at Sam.

 

“Oh yes,” Sam said, grinning. “Since I can’t use my shoulders or wrists much, you’re going to need to be the one topping for the next few weeks. Since you had mentioned wanting to do exactly that, well. I’ll be completely at your mercy.”

 

Gabriel blinked and stared at Sam for a moment before he burst out laughing. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard an injury painted in such a positive light!”

 

“Well, what can I say? I’m one of a kind,” Sam teased.

 

“Yeah,” Gabriel agreed, looking up at Sam, leaning in for a kiss. “You definitely are.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Criticisms welcome!
> 
> You can find me here: 
> 
>  
> 
> [Aria-Lerendeair ](http://aria-lerendeair.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> You can find Litra here: 
> 
>  
> 
> [Litra](http://fangirl-litra.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> You can also watch me write fics like this (and dozens of others) live! Follow me on Livestream for fics, shenanigans and a general all-around awesome time! http://new.livestream.com/accounts/7212317

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Show Must Go On [Art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5871667) by [Aria_Lerendeair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Lerendeair/pseuds/Aria_Lerendeair), [litra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra)




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